Dedicated
to Shirdi saibaba devotees seeking blessings of Goddess MahaLakshmi
to show light in their life with good career, wealth, Prosperity
and all Aishwaryam !!

My love for Goddess MahaLakshmi is very special.Like
any other devotee, i also had a feeling that Goddess Mahalakshmi
is meant to bless us with wealth but gradually i realized Mahalakshmi
gave me peace of mind and protected me like a caring mother. From
2005, Every day i used to recite "Shri Lakshmi Ashtakam".
Some times i have read Lakshmi Astakam contineously for 108 times.
While coming around dhuni ( sacred fire ) in Saibaba mandhir at
my place , i used to imagine Goddess Mahalakshmi sitting in Dwarakamai
of saibaba and say "Lakshmi Ashtakam" in my mind...Its
really a beautiful moment when my mind remembers only Mahalakshmi
and shirdi saibaba.Sri Lakshmi Ashtakam is so powerful that it takes
me to a state of forgetting myself and filling my heart with the
grace light of Mahalakshmi and shirdi sai. I kindly request all
of you to read it as give below....

The one who reads the above mantra thrice
everyday ( morning, afternoon and evening )with decipline and devotion
will be protected by Goddess Mahalakshmi who is described in the
above sloka as the

Goddess who destroys all
sins and sorrows of a devotee

Goddess who knows everything and can grant anything for a pure hearted
devotee

Goddess who grants intelligence and sidhi

Goddess who is born out of hard penance, seated in a Lotus

Goddess who is the Divine Mother of universe

Salutations to Goddess Mahalakshmi who has
no beginning and no end . A pure hearted devotee who reads Mahalakshmi
Astakam praising Mahalakshmi Devi will make all powers as his own
and attain the kingdom forever...

Dear friends, Please try to read the above mantra of Sri Mahalakshmi
devi .After few days you can memorise it and say this mantra by
heart while doing your day to day works.I tried to create a easy
pooja for people who love to worship Mahalakshmi, who has financial
problems and problems in their business or career. Please understand
theres a proper pooja for Mahalakshmi called "Vaibhav lakshmi
pooja, Mahalakshmi vrata - VaraLakshmi vrata" etc .If you know
to do those pooja, please do it.

I felt confident to write a ritual on my own with the experience
shirdi saibaba gave me the past three years from 2005.If you find
it odd please do not do it. Rituals to me are just a way of showing
our devotion on God. What matters is your "faith" . Don't
read mantra or do rituals just with intention and expectations that
Goddess will fulfill all your wishes. Do it with whole hearted love
on the Goddess.We never know our past bad karma which is reason
for our sufferings. So please surrender to Goddess Mahalakshmi and
Shird saibaba. Be humble to them . Someday you will experience the
"powers of prayers".

I asked permission from shirdi sai baba to write a pooja on my
own for Goddess Mahalaxmi . Baba gave the answer "If you write
without pride that you are doing it and seek my guidance , it shall
be written and the one who does the pooja will be blessed whole
heartedly by Goddess Mahalaxmi" . Sai also said "Give
medicines to patients which will benefit them "

I was wondering what sai means by this..I took the "patients"
here means people who are suffering financially,due to their business
not doing well, due to debt, problems in career,getting cheated
with financial loss etc. So i took it as baba wants me to create
a pooja which will gain them blessings of Goddess Mahalaxmi and
Shirdi saibaba

My humble expression of love for
Goddess Mahalaxmi :

Who am i to write a ritual or pooja for Goddess Mahalaxmi ? Am
not a saint. I din't do tapas for years like a sage. Am an ordinary
little servant of shirdi saibaba.This pooja is an expression of
my love for Goddess Mahalaxmi. Though i suffered all these years
with setbacks in career , irrespective of me not having any big
success from the time finished my graduation before eight years
to 2007, i still loved Mahalaxmi because i have realized shes not
just a Goddess of wealth.

MahaLakshmi is a Goddess of Motherly
"Love and "care" :

I mean Lakshmi cares for us like a Mother. She has protected me
in various situations.I have reasons to belive one who whole heartedly
pray Lakshmi Devi will surely get a good life partner and i am yet
to experience the "wealth" giving aspect of Mahalaxmi.
Am sure shirdi saibaba and Mahalaxmi will soon help me realize that
powers of Laxmi devi too.

The following are my experiences with Lakshmi Devi :

1. Pray Mahalaxmi for good life
Husband/ Wife :

In 2003, i used to pray Lord "Laxmi Narashimhar" to bless
my sister with a kind hearted husband. That was my only prayer for
over 6 months.I used to offer a yellow flower, a earthern lamp with
ghee, some sugar etc to Lord Laxmi Narashimhar and say "my
sister is good in studies and very hardworking in her career but
bless her with a kind hearted husband who will understand her and
give a peaceful life to her". Few months later when my prayers
came true, i felt very happy and even now i consider my sisters
good life as blessings of this beautiful Laxmi devi sitting on the
lap an avatar of Lord Vishnu, "Narashimhar".

2. Pray Mahalaxmi for peaceful spiritual
journey :

From 2005 , i used to recite "Mahalaxmi Astothram" and
108 names of Mahalaxmi everyday. I must accept , i din't make money
as people always consider laxmi devi only as goddess of wealth.
To me Mahalaxmi is a Goddess who helped me in spiritual journey.
My devotion to Lord Murugan, shirdi saibaba and all Gods might have
my need for "prosperity" behind it. I mean subconciously
my mind has assurance that if i show devotion to saint and God,
some day they will bless me with all happiness and prosperity in
my life. Not all spiritualist will honestly accept this point but
thats reality.

Our desires are route cause of our prayers and for a ordinary person
like me, shirdi sai pulled me to serve him because subconciously
i would have thought if i serve sai now, someday sai will make my
life prosper. Can you understand what i mean ? Its 2007 october
16th today and untill today when i recite "Mahalaxmi Astothram"
, internally i do have a belief that , i will be blessed with all
Aishwaryam in my life someday. So Mahalaxmi has given me confidence
to serve sai without distraction of trying to achieve something
in my career. I know someday sai will change my life and Mahalaxmi
will bless me with what the world expects from a man of this age
. To conclude, Mahalaxmi is certainly a Goddess who helps a ordinary
desireful person like me to take a spiritual journey irrespective
of the numerous days and nights i spent crying in worst depression
due to my failures in career .

Dhaanya Lakshmi blessed us with needs of food all life. Vidhya
Lakshmi fulfills our need to learn things. she blesses us with Knowledge
and Veera Lakshmi blesses us with both mental and physical courage.

5.Pray Goddess Mahalaxmi to protect
you like a mother :

A mother knows when a child is facing danger and runs to save the
child. Similarly i have experienced how powerful is Mahalaxmi in
protecting a true devotee.When you are facing danger due to financial
problems or loss in business etc, mostly you search for spiritual
guidance only after the worst has happened. If you had been a true
devotee of Mahalaxmi for years, surely she would have made you take
proper decisions.She would have given you hints on what to do ,
what not to do, whom to trust and whom not to trust etc....

Apart from financial issues, Mahalaxmi to me is a affectionate
sweet mother.She cares for me a lot irrespective of my sufferings,
pains and setbacks in career. I know she has plans for me and i
hope someday she blesses me with a good life. Lakshmi devi, you
have really been a caring mother for me.

6. Pray Goddess Mahalakshmi for
Wealth and Prosperity :

Ok this is the only aspect of Mahalaxmi which everyone of us are
aware of. That she is a "Goddess of wealth" .She blesses
one with profits in business, Good career,Gold,silver, a beautiful
house and all that you desire. Theres no end to desires !!! Am sure
Mahalaxmi would have listened to Billions and billions of desires
so far from her devotees. Yes the world needs it from us. We need
money to survive.So lets pray Mahalaxmi whole heartedly to bless
us with wealth and all Aishwaryam .

Why is a pooja / Ritual necessary
:

I have listed the benefits and reasons to pray Goddess Lakshmi
as far as i know.Actually if you pray whole heartedly , Any Goddess
will bless you with what you need. The point is your good karma
( good deeds) based on previous birth, your ancestors deeds etc
must be more than bad deeds. This is where a ritual or a pooja can
come in to use. Rituals are just external activities but internally
it helps in building "Devotion" .When you show affection
on God whole heartedly , your mind is purified...Thats why i request
,atleast when you do rituals, make sure you dont worry about your
pains or think about desires. Just do the pooja whole heartedly.

When you make your mind concentrate on the supreme power, even
if your past deeds are so bad that you are supposed to face pains
for more months or years, God will be convinced and bless you with
a good life. Why is God convinced . Its because when doing a ritual,
your mind is purified. So a pure mind won't involve in more bad
actions. So as we all know GOD is all forgiving and blesses us with
a good life by fulfilling our desires. Saints has power to wash
away our bad karma if we surrender to them body,mind and soul...So
saimahalakshmi is a site where you gain blessings of Goddess Mahalaxmi
and also Shirdi saibaba.

Three requests :
I have written this pooja so that devotees outside india also can
do this. There are not hard and fast rules. I just have three requests.

1. Faith :

Don't try this just because of your idea that your problem will
end if you do this. Do this only if you understand , any ritual
will help you "Increase your faith " on God , saint. Its
your "Faith" on Mahalakshmi and Shirdi saibaba that is
going to reward you.

2. Patience :

Dear Devotees of Mahalakshmi, Goddess does understands your situation
in life , sometimes worries about health, work and business but
how can you be devoted to goddess Mahalakshmi if your mind is always
in wealth or worries. First keep away all your needs and show pure
love, pure devotion on Mahalakshmi mata. Shes truely a divine Goddess
who will bless your family with peace and harmony. Sometimes Money
is not all that we need, we also need peace for which mahalakshmi
teaches us the art of saburi ( patience ) . So please do the pooja
only if you have patience to accept what ever happens after doing
it.

I am just showing you a good path without knowing your past bad
karma. So how can i promise within certain period , your life will
be good. So i request you to try this pooja if you really love it
and promise me that you won't say " i did this but no use"
..Cummon ..there must be some use.May be you will realize it after
many days or God would have saved you from the worst that was about
to happen.

3.Whole hearted devotion which must
come from bottom of your heart :

Shirdi saibaba loves pure devotion. I mean dont make a deal with
baba saying. Baba , i will do this and you give this to me. This
is not a business transaction. Please fall in love with Goddess
Mahalaxmi, Admire her , Recite her names whole heartedly, Try to
imagine he form and see her in form of light when you close your
eyes. Feel that shes blessing you. No matter what happens in life,
remember that Mahalakshmi cares for you like a mother . This is
whole hearted devotion.

Why is starsai Mahalakshmi pooja
powerful :

Its odd to write something by myself and call it powerful. If you
are wondering why i am sitting all night ( its 3.45 Am and i dint
slept all night ) and writing this pooja, its because i want you
all to be benefitted by doing this. The reason i feel this will
surely gain you blessings of Goddess Mahalakshmi is that it has
all the 4 aspects required to Gain blessings of Goddess Mahalakshmi
and Shirdi saibaba.

1. Offering :

Any place where you do offering is powerful. In Saibaba mandhir,
i come around dhuni "sacred fire" several thousand times.
why is it powerful . Its because people offer coconut,woods etc
in the fire that burns. Similarly when you offer Fruits, payasam,
any good home made foods to Goddess Mahalaxmi , its powerful.

2. Connecting :

Lighting lamps is powerful too. Almost all religion see the supreme
power God in the form of "Light". Lets say its so powerful
as the combination of crores of SUN put togather. Spiritually, when
you light a lamp, it does have connection with that supreme light.
Thats why shirdi saibaba loves lighting lamps so much. It has both
benefits .One is the ability to wash away your past bad karma and
bless you with materialistic benefits and second is that it connects
you with supreme light .So lighting lamps is a connection between
a devotee and the supreme power.

3.Remembering :

The is the part which many of us will dont realize. We can easily
keep a shirdi saibaba photo, Mahalaxmi photo , light lamps , read
mantra,sloka and give food or saree to poor and gain blessings but
while we are doing all this physically , our mind must remember
God. Either think about Goddess you love or Goddess Mahalaxmi or
Lord Vishnu or Shirdi saibaba.

Hinduism has provided Mantra and sloka because the meaning and
sounds it creates has powers to gain you blessings of God .It also
helps you "Remember" god. Why is a sloka having words
which appreciates a Gods form, powers and ability. Is it because
Goddess is so egoistic that she wants someone to appreciate her.
No....When we read a mantra describing Gods powers, subconciously,
you are remembering her, you are admiring her, and your faith on
her increases day by day , you start to believe that your life will
change due to her powers. To make my point clear, read any of your
favourite mantras or 108 names of Goddess Mahalaxmi and Shirdi saibaba
and remember them, Think about them, Imagine and feel them whole
heartedly.This is actually devotion .A pure love on sai and mahalakshmi
which comes from bottom of your heart.

4.Giving : Helping others in need
or gifting :

Who knows what sins we have commited in previous births. When you
give food to the hunger , when you give saree or clothes to poor,
when you help in education of a poor kid, or when you help your
relative or friend in need, it surely becomes a blessing for you.
This good karma will tally your previous births bad karma...So day
by day when you keep on developing a heart to help others, your
chance of happy life in this birth increases.

Above are the reasons i have listed why starsai Mahalakshmi pooja
is powerful. I have tried to create a simple pooja anyone can do
with in 30 minutes to one hour which covers all powerful aspects
like Offering, Connecting,Remembering and Giving.

What you need for starsai Mahalakshmi
pooja :

1.Any lamp, candle is ok but please for Gods
sake understand Lamps can benefit you a more.
2.Fruits or home made food or any vegetarian food for offering
3.Three Lemon ( if you cant get lemon at all use orange )
4.Glass of Milk ( If you dont have milk, use honey in small bottle
)
5.Sugar

Starsai Mahalakshi Pooja - Procedure
to follow :

Its very simple..You can see i wrote so much above but the actual
ritual is too little.I made it clear the fast world has time to
do something .What matters to sai and Mahalaxmi is your pure mind
while doing this pooja.

Step one :

Sit on the floor over a piece of cloth .Take a shirdi saibaba statue
or photo , Mahalakshmi photo and keep it on any place comfortable
for you.Try to arrange a huge tray to light lamps over it ...or
a big round plate..I say this because devotees abroad fear to light
lamps in wooden house.

Am sure you will do the tradition of kepping Red tumeric ( Kumkum
) on the photos of Goddess , if you have sacred ash - udi of shirdi
saibaba, or any sacred ash, keep on your forehead and apply kukkum
in your forehead too. If you are in india, you can keep Incense
sticks,camphor and any good offerings you like to do while doing
pooja.

Step Two :

1. In a clean plate, Offer the 3 lemons and keep infront of the
photos of Shirdi saibaba and Mahalaxmi.

( Three lemons are a must. If you prefer, you can offer any fruits
or vegetarian foods also.
Foods made of wheat is prefered but its your wish. )

2. Try to get few flowers and offer them as garland or keep them
over Mahalakshi and shirdi saibabas photo.

3.Offer water in a vessel - Water is considered to be sacred and
"Living" . It has powers to heal and gain blessings.
Thats why i request to keep water.

4. Offer milk in a vessel - You can keep a glass of milk or in
a vessel...Cow is worshiped as sacred .
So offering Milk to Mahalakshmi is like pleasing her.

You can light any of the lamps below or any lamp of your choice.
If you are living abroad and really dont have lamps, try to light
candle.Remember theres a special value for lamps.( Its obvious all
wont have 8 lamps.Try to get affordable brass lamps or you can make
lemon lamps or coconut lamps )

Lamps and its specific benefits
:

choose to light all or any lamps below or atleast candle.I prefer
to pour Ghee because its good for inviting Mahalakshmi. If not you
can use oil to light lamps...Remember...i have just listed different
lamps you can choose to light. You can light any lamps which you
are comfortable with or either light 2 brass lamps, 2 lemon lamps,
2 coconut lamps and 2 earthern lamps..Its all your choice based
on availability.

Brass lamps :
Lord Vishnu blessings

Lemon lamps :
Cut a lemon into two halves.Take off the juice, take each half and
invert it inwardly, place wicks and pour oil or ghee now .
Lemon lamps has powers to drive away evil forces.

Coconut lamps :
Break coconut into two halves, in each half pour oil or ghee , join
3-4 wicks to make one thick wicks and light lamp.
Blessings of Moon God - Gives steady mind. ( good if you dont have
peace of mind/ mind is oscillating not able to concentrate in work
)

Lamp in earthern mud :
Purest form of lamp which you can get only in india i think.

Step Four :

This is the important step. Please read mantra and sloka of Goddess
Mahalakshmi and shirdi saibaba whole heartedly. I mention this because
as i wrote before, Mantra and sloka has powers of their own but
their main goal is to make your mind surrender to God. So when you
read the mantra, try to imagine the presence of God in your heart.
Shirdi saibaba has said that your heart is his abode. The best way
to pray is to remember God from the bottom of our heart . Even if
you dont read mantra, its ok. This step is all about remembering
Shirdi saibaba and Goddess Mahalaxmi. So you can choose to stare
at the photos or close your eyes and meditate ateast for 20 minutes
or as long as you wish.

This is the part where you have to "give" . Once you
finish your pooja by reciting Gods name or meditating on Gods name
for few minutes. Have the water in vessel , milk etc as prasad and
distribute it to all members in your family and friends. Give it
to only people who are interested in having prasad.

Now you have offered Three lemons during pooja

1. Have lemon juice prasad from
first lemon :

Take one lemon, cut it in to two halves, make juice , add sugar
, and drink it as prasad for your self and all your family members.
Trust me , in spirituality lemon is the Kind of Fruits. Sai and
sidhars has few works to do with lemon. Its Natures gift for good
life. Thats why i especially prefered to include the Lemons value
in this pooja

2. Drop lemon in glass full of water
:

Take second lemon,a glass full of water and slowly drop it inside
the glass.Just keep it in any place where your kids wont touch and
drop it down. Let it be in pooja room itself or any self in a corner.
I learnt this way of sai in 2005.Its sidhars way to keep sacred
lemon in glass of water for a weeks time. If you find the lemon
decaying in 3 to 8 days time , throw it away and wash the glass.

3.Third lemon remains near the photo
of Mahalakshmi and Shirdi saibaba :

Just keep the third lemon in any place where you permanently keep
shirdi saibaba photo. After few days it will be dried ...Let it
remain there as long as you wish . Throw it aaway when you wish
after few days.

The first "Giving" is giving prasad to all in your family
and friends..The second is helping the poor and needy or giving
gifts to your relatives or friends and getting their ashirwad.

If you are in india do any of the
the following good deeds :

1. Give food to poor people sitting out side temples
2.Give towels, clothes, bed seats to poor people
3.If you can, travel to any village, give saree to any poor women
in a village temple and get her ashirwad.
Its easy to find women selling flowers, etc in village temples.
4.If possible, visit a school where poor kids study and give them
books , pens etc...
5. If there is sincere Child orphanage or old age home, give them
some useful things . You can give biscuts, sweets or rice bags.I
prefer habit of giving as things than donating money as you can't
be sure where your money goes. Only few organisations are true.

If you live out side india do any
of the following good deeds :

1.Simple way is to ask your relatives or friends in india to above
any of the above.
2. Since its hard to find poor people in rich countries, Offer cookies,
food etc to crows , sparrows, birds, Squirriles, dogs etc
3. If you find any good organisations accepting food packs etc give
it to them
4.Donate to any small sincere child orphanage or old age homes
5.Am not sure about good deeds you can do out abroad. its up to
you.

Thats it.....pooja is over !!!

Now you are all confirmed that Goddess Mahalakshmi and shirdi saibaba
has blessed you and your family dear friend.

To summarise the pooja quickly :

---Pooja starts ----

1. Do offerings of three lemon to photo or statue of shirdi saibaba
and Goddess Mahalakshmi
2.Light eight lamps . Any lamps of your choice either with ghee
or oil or atleast a candle.
3. Remember Goddess and recite mantra
4.Take first lemon and drink as juice, second lemon drop in glass
of water and keep it in safe place for a weeks time, Third lemon
, remains near babas photo.
5.Distribue milk,honey and pure water which you offered to Goddess
as prasad to yourself and family members

---Pooja over ----------

---Giving ----

6. After doing this pooja...Any day when you get time, when you
have found the right "Good deed" you wish to do as i have
wrote above.

Formal way to get blessings - Give
saree and get blessings :

Theres a formal way to get Ashirwad from women which is very powerful.
Keep tumeric power, Kumkum,one lemon,blouse material in yellow ,
green or orange colour OR saree in yellow , green or orange colour
OR any dress in above colours , bangles,
flowers like jasmine, roses . All these things and any good things
that a women like can be kept on a Brass plate .

Invite two women...preferably your welwishers..Any one in your
relative, your friend or elderly person or poor women whom you can
invite to home. If you live abroad just invite any of your close
friends...Give them the above stuff in brass plate along with plate
, fall in their feets and ask them to bless you whole heartedly.

If you live in india, you can do this when you travel to shirdi
or any temples...go in search of any poor women or any old women
and ask them to bless you.

The reason this ashirwad is powerful is that most of our pains
in life are due to our past bad karma or curse of a women given
to our ancestors.So when you get blessings from a women , it is
very very powerful and help sai and Mahalakshmi to favour you with
good happenings in your life in the days to come.

See...Dont worry if you cant do the "giving" part....Just
remember when ever sai gives you time to help others , you make
use of it but you also have to look for it. Nextly, helping friends
doesnt mean giving them money and blinking how to ask it back later
. Helping friends means , doing some physical work for the, guiding
them someway or giving some financial help etc with in your ability.
I never ask you to give beyond your ability.

Thats it friends...

This may not sound like a formal ritual with lots of points to
remember...I wrote this pooja sitting all night on 15.10.2007 and
its 16.10.2007 early morning 5.45 Am now. I dont know if you like
it or not..All i know is as soon as i came home, i broke a coconut
in to 2 halves, poured oil , lit lamps infront of Lord shiva, Parvathi,
(Meenakshi amman , sokanadhar ) ,and Mahalakshmi and prayed them
whole heartedly "Lakshmi devi , i am going to start a website
for you, please help me what to write" At that moment i dint
even realize that am going to write this ritual sitting all night....Coconut
lamp is glowing beautifully even now infront of sai satcharita book
and photo of Garbarakshambigai.So please accept this pooja if you
like it and do it with pure devotion on my sweet beautiful angel
Goddess Mahalakshmi.

My sincere prayers to shirdi saibaba
and Goddess Mahalakshi to Bring you all peace, protection and prosperity
in life

Your family is fortunate because you have read this article. Atleast
you would have repeated the name "Mahalakshmi" few times
by now.This itself is a blessing.

C.Venkat Raman

Mahalakshimi , please open your eyes
and bless this little servant of shirdi saibaba also !!!

16 :10 : 2007

Sairam... Please forgive me for any mistakes i would have done
in the above pooja.My intention is to make people divert in spiritual
path instead of worrying with depression and unwanted thoughts and
ideas. Surrender to Goddess. Some day she will open her eyes for
you and make your life better .

Assurance from my sweet saint saibaba of shirdi
:

"I am absolutely in the power
of My devotees and stand by their side. For ever I am hungering
after their love and readily answer their call in distress”

Said by SaiBaba
to Dada Bhatt (Sai
Satcharitra Ch.ll). When Dr. Pandit applied sandal paste to
Baba's forehead with love.

Mahalakshmi blessings is always there for those who humbly bow
to her, offer flowers, do holy bath to statue ( abishekam with milk,
water etc ) . You can also read the holy Kanakadhara
Stotram sung by Adi Sankaracharya

Copy
rights for photos few articles in SaiMahalakshmi.com belongs to
the author and starsai network.
All rights reserved - Starsai.com